422 



PA II IS PARLIAMENT. 



of the former, which is extant in manuscript, ami some 

 other works, which are MiDQOMd to have perished. 



1'AKIS. PLASTRR OF. See Gypsum. 



PAR1SIENNE, LA, or, properly, LA MARCHK 

 PARisiENiNE ; a song composed by M. Casimir Dela- 

 vigne, immediately after or during the French revolu- 

 tion of 1830. This song was, and still is, very popu- 

 lar, and may be compared, as to its character and the 

 excitement which produced it, to the Marseillaise 

 hymn. See Marseillaise. 



PARK, MUNGO ; an enterprising traveller, who 

 fell a victim to his repeated attempts to explore the 

 interior of the African continent. His father was a 

 farmer, and he was born near Selkirk, in Scotland, 

 September 10, 1771. He was educated for the me- 

 dical profession, and, after having studied at Edin- 

 burgh for three yenrs, was apprenticed to a surgeon 

 of Selkirk. On quitting this situation, he went to 

 London, and then made a voyage to the East Indies, 

 as assistant surgeon on board one of the company's 

 vessels. Returning to England, he engaged in an 

 expedition to the intertropical regions of Africa, to 

 trace the course of the river Niger, under the patron- 

 age of the African society. He arrived on the coasts of 

 Senegal in June, 1795, and, having made himself ac- 

 quainted with the Mandingo language, commenced 

 his journey, in the course of which lie encountered 

 great dangers ; in spite of which he prosecuted his 

 undertaking till he had reached the banks of a large 

 river, which appeared to be the object of his re- 

 searches. The state of destitution to which he had 

 been reduced, rendered it almost impossible for him 

 to proceed, and he therefore returned towards the 

 coast, and arrived in England at the end of the year 

 1797. Of his interesting discoveries he published an 

 account in his Travels in the Interior of Africa, in 

 1795, 1796 and 1797 (4to, 1799.) Mr Park then en- 

 gaged in practice as a surgeon, at Peebles, in his 

 native country, 1801. In 1805, Park was appointed 

 by government to command a new expedition to ex- 

 plore the course of the Niger. His first journey had 

 made known its easterly course (see Niger), but he 

 had not been able to follow it down to its mouth. 

 His plan now was to cross the country from the 

 western coast, enter Bambara, construct two boats, 

 and, embarking on the river, reach the sea. He set 

 out from Pisania, on the Gambia, in April, with 

 thirty-six Europeans, of whom thirty were soldiers, 

 and the rest mechanics, and liberally provided with 

 presents and merchandise. His impatience had led 

 him to set out in the wet season, and of thirty -eight 

 men who had left the coast with him, seven only 

 survived when he reached the Niger, in August. 

 Having finally procured permission to build a boat 

 at Sansanding, he embarked at that place November 

 17. Four Europeans only survived to embark with 

 him. Some time having elapsed without any intelli- 

 gence being received of him, Isaaco, his interpreter 

 (who had been sent back with communications from 

 tlie Niger), was despatched to procure information: 

 Isaaco succeeded in finding the person who had taken 

 his place as interpreter, and from him receivedajournal 

 containing an account of the voyage, from which it ap- 

 peared, that the party was attacked by the natives at 

 Boussa, and all killed, with the exception of one slave. 

 Clapperton (q. v.), in his second journey, received ac- 

 counts confirming this statement, and visited the 

 spot where the travellers perished. He was also 

 informed that the sultan of Youri had some of Park's 

 papers, which he was willing to give up to him, if 

 he would pay him a visit. The Landers (q. v.) also 

 visited the place, and were shown by the sultan, or 

 king, one of Park's books, which they describe as a 

 nautical book, containing tables of logarithms. The 



Journal of Park's second Expedition was published 

 with a memoir of his life, in 1815. 



PARK OF ARTILLERY. See Artillery. 



PARLIAMENT. The name parliament (r'rench, 

 parlement) was formerly given to the highest courts 

 in France, Naples, and some other countries. They 

 originated from the ancient diets and courts, held 

 by the kings, which were called parliaments, parti- 

 cularly if held at extraordinary times. The b;trons 

 decided legal cases, with the aid of the clergy, the 

 magnates, and the chancellor, as was natural in times 

 when the three branches of government were so con- 

 fusedly mingled. But the kings of France soon ap- 

 pointed counsellors versed in the law to decide the 

 complaints and appeals brought to their court by 

 the inhabitants of their hereditary lands ; and the 

 same was done by the feudal princes, the dukes of 

 Normandy, Guienne, Burgundy, Brittany, and the 

 prince-counts of Champagne, Toulouse, Provence, 

 &c. These counsellors were not, originally, proper 

 judges, but merely made reports, and always fol- 

 lowed the court. But what John of England had 

 been obliged to promise in the Magna Charta, as 

 early as 1215, a permanent court confined to one 

 place, was, by degrees, demanded in all countries. 

 Philip IV. (the Fair) of France, established a perma- 

 nent court at Paris, in 1294, for the provinces belong- 

 ing to the immediate domains of the crown, which 

 were divided into four districts. In 1305, this insti- 

 tution was enlarged. In the beginning, this court 

 held but two sessions annually, continuing, however, 

 for weeks and months, viz. at Easter and All-Saints , 

 but when the business of the court increased, its ses- 

 sions became permanent in 1422. The vassals of 

 the royal hereditary dominions had seats and votes 

 in the parliament, which, at a later period, passed 

 over to the peers of France ; but the business actually 

 fell upon the counsellors, who were lawyers. The 

 parliament of Paris consisted, before the French 

 revolution, of five chambers, the grande chambre, 

 with ten presidents, twenty-five temporal, and twelve 

 spiritual counsellors, three chambres ties enquetes, 

 each with two presidents and twenty-three counsel- 

 lors, and the chambre des requetes, with two presi- 

 dents, and fourteen counsellors. Criminal cases were 

 tried in the chambre de la Tournelle, in which mem- 

 bers of all the chambers sat in turn. The crown 

 advocates (q. v.) belonged also to the parliaments, 

 with above 500 lawyers, and a great number of sub- 

 alterns. Some of the feudal principalities, even be- 

 fore their union with the crown, had similar tribu- 

 nals ; the county of Toulouse, for instance, had a 

 parliament, Normandy her great feudal court (scacca- 

 rium or echiquier) at Rouen. After the union with 

 the crown, parliaments were erected, by degrees, 

 for the other provinces ; at Toulouse, at Grenoble 

 for Dauphine, Bordeaux for Guienne, Dijon for 

 Burgundy, Besangon for Franche Comte, Rouen, 

 Aix for Provence, Pau for Beam, Rennes for Brit- 

 tany, Metz for the three bishoprics Metz, Toul, 

 and Verdun, Douay for Flanders, and Nancy for 

 Lorraine. The form of publication of the royal de- 

 crees consisted in sending them to the parliaments, 

 which entered them in the registers, and transmitted 

 them to the lower courts. This gave to these courts 

 a peculiar political influence. They insisted that 

 they had the right to make protestations to the king 

 against decrees, and that thus they represented the 

 estates of the realm. In early times, the court some- 

 times yielded. From the time of Louis XIV., how- 

 ever, the registering of the decree was generally 

 obtained by the king's appearing personally in par- 

 liament, when no debate was permitted, and the 

 registering was ordered (lit de justice, q. v.) Re- 



